Glass tube cutting machine with end polisher

ABSTRACT

AN AUTOMATIC MACHINE FOR CUTTING SHORT LENGHTS OF GLASS TUBING FROM LONGER LENGTHS OF TUBING STOCK. THE LENGHTS OF TUBING STOCK TO BE CUT ARE MOUNTED IN A VERTICAL POSITION IN SUPPORT CHURCKS AT THE EDGE OF A ROTATING TURRET. THE SUPPORT CHUCKS ARE PERIODICALLY OPENED TO LOWER THE GLASS TUBING A DISTANCE EQUAL TO THE LENGTH OF THE SHORT TUBING BEING CUT ON THE MACHINE. AFTER EACH TUBE IS LOWERED, A CUTTING FLAME AND WHEEL CUT OR CRACK THE TUBE TO SEVER THE SHORTENED PIECE. THE SHORT PIECE WHICH HAS BEEN CUT FROM THE TUBE DROPS A SLIGHT DISTANCE SO THAT ITS UPPER EDGE IS SPACED FROM THE LOWER EDGE OF THE REMAINING TUBE. AFTER THIS SPACING HAS BEEN PROVIDED, A POLISHING FLAME IS DIRECTED SIMULTANEOUSLY AGAINST BOTH OF THE SPACED EDGES SO THAT THEY ARE SMOOTHLY FIRE-POLISHED. THIS POLISHING OPERATION, THEREFORE, COMPLETE A POLISHING OF BOTH ENDS OF THE CUT TUBE SINCE THE LOWER END OF THE CUT TUBE WAS POLISHED DURING THE PREVIOUS CUTTING AND POLISHING CYCLE. THE COMPLETED SHORT LENGTH OF TUBING WITH BOTH ENDS POLISHED IS NOW REMOVED FROM THE MACHINE IN FINISHED FORM, AND NO ADDITIONAL FIRE POLISHING IS REQUIRED.

Dec. 14, 1971 w, ENGEL 3,62%5Q5 GLASS TUBE CUTTING MACHINE WITH END POLISHER Filed Feb. 24, 1969 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVEN'I'UR.

i a. E MAL r ag United States Patent Office 3,627,505 GLASS TUBE CUTTING MACHINE WITH END POLISHER William T. Engei, Union, N.J., assignor to Kahle Engineering Company, Union City, NJ. Filed Feb. 24, 1969, Ser. No. 801,354 Int. Cl. C031) 33/06 US. Cl. 65-174 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An automatic machine for cutting short lengths of glass tubing from longer lengths of tubing stock. The lengths of tubing stock to be out are mounted in a vertical position in support chucks at the edge of a rotating turret. The support chucks are periodically opened to lower the glass tubing a distance equal to the length of the short tubing being cut on the machine. After each tube is lowered, a cutting flame and wheel cut or crack the tube to sever the shortened piece. The short piece which has been cut from the tube drops a slight distance so that its upper edge is spaced from the lower edge of the remaining tube. After this spacing has been provided, a polishing flame is directed simultaneously against both of the spaced edges so that they are smoothly fire-polished. This polishing operation, therefore, completes a polishing of both ends of the cut tube since the lower end of the cut tube was polished during the previous cutting and polishing cycle. The completed short length of tubing with both ends polished is now removed from the machine in finished form, and no additional fire polishing is required.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present apparatus is a glass tube cutting machine which holds lengths of glass tubing in chucks located at the edge of a turret or table. As the machine turret is turned, short lengths of tubing of predetermined length are cut and fire polished on both ends before being unloaded from the machine.

Although rotary glass tube cutting apparatus is known, none of the prior machines satisfactorily accomplish both the cutting and fire polishing of both ends of the short cut tubes prior to their removal from the cutting machine. An example of such a known machine is described, for example, in US. Pat. No. 2,596,899, dated May 13, 1952 and owned by the assignee of the present invention.

In the machines which are known, the fire polishing of the ends of the cut tubing is either not done or is done on only one tube end. The tubing must be transferred to a separate polishing machine for polishing of the remaining unpolished end or ends.

The need for at least one end of the cut tubing to be polished in separate equipment has presented a serious problem both with respect to obtaining suitable equipment for doing the polishing and with respect to handling the tubes at the speeds at which this equipment should properly operate. It has been found extremely difficult to provide a reliable handling and polishing device which would receive the tubes at the operating speed of the cutting machine and which would move them past the polisher in a reliable rapid manner without requiring a reduction in the operating speed of the tube cutter. One prior solution to this problem was the provision of two or more polishing attachments for each glass cutting machine. However, this solution is also unsatisfactory due to the large amount of additional equipment required and due to the complex handling apparatus which is required to feed the two or more polishing attachments.

3,627,505 Patented Dec. 14, 1971 Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a high speed glass tube cutter which cuts glass tubing into shorter lengths with both ends polished.

It is a further object to provide a glass tube cutter which produces finished and polished tubing without auxiliary fire polishing equipment.

It is yet another object of this invention to provide tube cutting apparatus which produces finished cut glass tubes more rapidly than conventional cutting apparatus.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a tube cutting machine which will provide completed short glass tubes where the tube end polishing operation is included in the machine and where the polishing operation may be run at a speed equal to that of the highest practical speed for the tube cutting operation whereby no reduction in the overall system is caused by the polishing operation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS A preferred embodiment of the apparatus has been chosen for purposes of illustration and is shown in the following drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional View partially in section showing the rotary turret and two of the work stations;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic representation illustrating the work stations through which the tubing moves and which shows the operations performed on the tubing at the several stations;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged detailed vertical sectional view of the support rod and tube holder assembly and related equipment;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view showing the support rod and tube holder at the station at which unloading of the cut and polished tubes takes place;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view of the adjacent ends of the glass tubing after the cutting and spacing steps and prior to the fire polishing; and

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view showing the upper portion of the support rod, tube holder, and cut tubing and the lower portion of the tube stock during the fire polishing step.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION FIG. 1 illustrates the major components which comprise applicants invention. A support 1 mounts a stationary center post 2. An upper turret member 6 and a lower turret member 7 are rotatably mounted on the post 2 and are coupled together by a connecting sleeve 5 for being continuously rotated by a drive motor (not shown) through a suitable gear system 3. The turret member 6 carries a plurality of glass tubing support chucks 8 mounted in spaced relation about its periphery. Each of the chucks 8 is secured to the turret at 9 and supports a length of tubing stock 10. Gears 11 are mounted on the top of each chuck 8 and mate with a ring gear 4 to provide a continuous rotation of the tubing 10 during travel of the chucks 8 from station to station as turret member 6 rotates.

The function of the chucks 8 is to support the individual elongated glass tubes 10 as they are fed downwardly to the cutting position and to rotate the tubes to facilitate both the cutting and the fire polishing. The chucks 8 are periodically opened to lower each tube the predetermined distance to the tube cutting position. Such chucks are well known and include an operating lever 8 which is raised or lowered against a spring force to temporarily open the chuck 8 jaws so that the tube 10 may move downwardly in a feed action which is further described below. The chuck control lever 8' may be raised at the appropriate time by an elongated cam. A suitable chuck of this type is illustrated, for example, in the above cited U.S. Pat. No. 2,596,899.

The lower turret member 7 carries a rod and tube holder assembly indicated generally by the reference numeral 12 for each chuck 8. Assembly 12 comprises a holder 13 which is secured by bolt 14 to the turret memher 7. This holder 13 forms a support for a movable tube holder 15 and a movable support rod 16.

The support rod 16 has a rounded lower end 17 which rides on barrel cam member 18. As the turret members 6 and 7 are rotated about post 2, the rounded lower end 17 of rod member 16 rides along cam member 18 which varies in vertical height so as to either raise or lower the rod 16.

The tube holder 15 is connected to a crank 19 mounted on pivot 23 on support 29 which is secured to the lower side of turret member 7. As the member 7 is rotated, a cam roller 24 on crank 19 rides along a cam 25 on the support 1 for the machine to cause the crank 19 to pivot and either raise or lower the movable tube holder 15 as will be further described in connection with FIG. 2.

The tube holder 15 mounts a pulley 26 which is adapted to engage the inner run of a belt 21 mounted on pulleys 22 to turn the holder 15 and the tube 28 therein as tubing 2% is fire polished by the fire polishing assembly 29 to insure that the upper end cut on tubing 28 will be uniformly polished around the tubing end 34.

A stationary holder 13 for each tube holder assembly 12 has a flange 36 which is secured to turret member 7 by a bolt 14 and has a central bore 37 which accommodates the hollow movable tube holder 15. Member 38 is threadedly connected to the lower end of holder 15 and provides a connection for the crank 19. A stop member 39, which is fixedly connected to stationary holder 13, extends into the bore 37 and limits the maximum displacement of the movable holder 15 in the vertical direc tion. In FIG. 3, holder 15 is shown at a position that is very close to the highest vertical position it can assume.

The movable support rod 16 is slidably mounted in bore 40 within the movable tube holder 15. The rod 16 may be formed of either oneor two-piece construction. In FIG. 3, it is shown having a two-piece construction comprising a main rod member 41 and a smaller end piece 42 which is threadedly connected to the upper end of main rod member 41 and which acts to adjustably position the tubing 10. End piece 42 snugly fits an internally disposed collar 43 which is placed at the end of the movable tube holder 15 and both end piece 42 and collar 43 have a diameter which is approximately the same as that of tubing 10. Stop member 39 also extends into bore 40 and prevents movement of the rod 16 past predefined lowest and highest positions.

In FIG. 3, the rod 16 is shown at its lowest position. The lower end 17 of the rod 16 may comprise a separate rounded member 44 which is threadedly connected to the main rod member 41. A compressed spring 46 preferably is inserted between rounded member 43 and the bottom surface 46 of movable tube holder 15.

The above described construction provides for a limited amount of vertical motion of the rod 16 and holder 15 in response to camming members 18 and 25 respectively. Each moves independently of the other for executing the operations illustrated in sequence in FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 shows in detail the various operations that are performed at each of the work stations or positions. The stations are designated by roman numerals I-X in FIG. 2 for clarity. It can be seen that the station illustrated on the left of FIG. 1 corresponds to station IX in FIG. 2, and the station on the right of FIG. 1 illustrates the fire polishing step shown at station IV in FIG. 2.

At station I support rod 16 in tube holder 15 supports the lower end of tubing stock 10 as it is being secured in chuck 8. This operation precisely sets the position of the tubing stock for the following operations. At station II rod 16 has been lowered slightly by the camming member 18 to leave a small space between the lower end of the tubing stock 10 and rod 16. At station III, the tube holder 15 is lifted by lever arm assembly 19 (not shown in FIG. 2), so that it at least partially encloses a portion of the tubing stock 10. The support rod 16 is maintained at the position it held at station II and a cutting flame 31 and cracking member 32 sever the tubing stock 10 a length of cut tubing 28. The cut tubing 28 is of predetermined length due to the securing of the tubing stock 10 in chuck 8 at station I while supported by rod 16.

After being severed at station III, the tubing 28 falls a short distance in holder 15 to support rod 16. This places the ends of the stock tubing 10 and cut tubing 28 in proper position for being simultaneously fire polished by the fire polisher 29. FIG. 5 shows in greater detail the unpolished ends 34a and 34b of the tubing stock 19 and cut tubing 28 respectively after this cutting operation. The fire polishing occurs at stations IV and V. In a preferred embodiment a dual nozzle polisher 29 is used. FIG. 6 shows this polishing step in greater detail. The flame nozzles 29a and 2% are spaced so that the unpolished end of the tubing stock 34a and the unpolished end of the cut tubing 34!; are simultaneously fire polished by flames forming rounded or beaded ends 35a and 35b.

After the fire polishing, tube holder 15 is lowered at station VI so that the cut length of fire polished tubing 28 is no longer enclosed as it has been during the cutting and polishing steps and may be unloaded or ejected into a discharge means. Stations VII and VIII, are gauging stations and show the rod 16 and tube holder 15 being raised preparatory to having the support rod 16 contact another length of stock tubing 10 at station IX. The final work station X, corresponds to station I. The tubing stock 10 is lowered by support rod 16 until a proper length has been exposed and then the tubing stock 10 is secured by the closing of the chuck 8 and the cycle is repeated during the next revolution of the turret members 6 and 7.

In the illustrations a ten step or station cycle is ictured. It is to be understood that this is merely illustrative of a particular arrangement which may be used. In actual practice, for example, a 24-head machine may be u ed and the sequence may include extra cutting, fire polishing and gauging steps if desired.

It will be seen that an improvement means has been provided for forming short lengths of lass tubing which are cut from longer glass tubes of indeterminate length. The improved machine provides these tubes at high speed by a successive cutting or cracking action and by a subsequent polishing action which provides for the polishing of both ends of the short tube prior to its being removed from the cutting machine. The cutting and polishing operations are provided with successive high speed operations which permit the tubes to be both out and polished at correspondingly high speeds. This related cutting and polishing operation also eliminates the additional machinery and related steps as now required in machinery of this type where at least one end of the cut tube has to be polished in a separate subsequent operation by an additional polishing means.

As various changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangement of the parts herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and without sacrificing any of its advantages, it is to be understood that all matter herein is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. Apparatus for cutting and fire polishing both ends of lengths of glass tubing comprising the combination of a rotary turret having a plurality of spaced glass tube holding chucks mounted around its periphery for holding and moving vertically oriented glass tubing past a plurality of work stations which stations comprise a first station having a support rod to vertically position the glass tubing in a chuck, a second station having cutting means to sever a predetermined length of glass tubing from the lower end of the glass tubing supported in the chuck, a third station having means acting on the support rod and a hollow tube holder to lower and to support the length of severed glass tubing with its upper end spaced from the lower end of the glass tubing from which it was severed, a fourth station having a pair of vertically spaced flames for simultaneously fire polishing the upper end of the cut length of glass tubing and the lower end of the glass tubing remaining in the chuck, and a fifth station having means to lower said hollow tube holder with respect to said rod for ejecting the cut lengths of glass tubing.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS S. LEON BASHORE, Primary Examiner S. R. FRIEDMAN, Assistant Examiner U.S. C1. X.R. 

